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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 
UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, Director 



TESTING OF FUELS AND STRUCTURAL IMATERIALS FOR 
THE UNITED STATES. 

ORGANIZATION . 

By order of the Secretary of the Interior of April 2, 1907, there 
was organized, as a new branch of the United States Geological vSur- 
vey, the technologic branch, which includes a division of fuels and a 
division of structural materials. This branch is the outgrowth of 
work done at the Survey's fuel-testing plant and structural naaterials 
laboratories at St. Louis, Mo. 

The law under which the fuel-testing plant is operated provides 
for two classes of work — tests designed to increase the efficiency of 
fuels, and thus to prevent waste in the utilization of the fuel resources 
of the country, and tests of coals that are used by the Government. 

The law also provides for the testing of structural materials used 
by the United States Government in the great engineering works 
that are projected or under way and in buildings to be erected for 
the Government. 

APPROPRIATIONS. 

At the last session of Congress $250,000 was appropriated to con- 
tinue the analyzing and testing of the coals, lignites, and other fuel 
substances of the United States in order to determine their fuel 
values. 

This Congress also appropriated $100,000 to continue experiments 
on structural materials used by the United States. 

PERSONNEIj. 

The organization of the technologic branch embraces J. A. Holmes, 
expert in charge; H. M. Wilson, chief engineer; N. W. Lord, chief 
chemist; L. P. Breckenridge, engineer in charge of steam-engineering 
division; R. H. Fernald, engineer in charge of gas-producer section; 
D. T. Randall, engineer in charge of smoke abatement; A. W. Belden, 
engineer in charge of coking and washery section; J. Shober Burrows, 
in charge of coal waste and mine explosives section; Clarence Hall, in 
charge of explosives investigations; C. T. Malcolmson, in charge of 
briquette section; Richard L. Humphrey, engineer in charge of the 
structural materials division. 
12701—07 



f^n- /• !9a7 



FUEL DIVISION. 

WASTE OF FUEL. 

The United States Government's coal bill last year was $6,500,000. 

The people of the country expended for fuel last year more than 
$1,600,000,000. 

That a saving to the United States Government and the people of 
this country of from 5 to 10 per cent in these coal bills is possible 
has already been indicated by experiments made at the old plant for 
testing Government fuels at St. Louis, Mo., which plant is now in 
operation at Norfolk, Va., continuing the tests. 

A saving of even 5 per cent in the Government's coal bill would 
amount to $325,000 in one year, and a similar saving in the coal bill 
of the people would amount to $80,000,000 annually. 

Prof. J. A. Holmes, expert in charge of the technologic branch of 
the Geological Survey, says: 

Already the saving through increased efficiency growing out of this work has 
amounted to many thousands of dollars in individual plants. A number of engineers, 
some of them connected with the Government, estimate that the result will be a 
saving of 10 per cent to the Government within a year or two, and I hope that the 
good work may be so extended that the influence will go over the entire country. 

I think in that way there can be a saving which will amount to many millions 
each year, not only by increasing the efficiency with which the fuel is used, but by 
preventing a tremendous waste of the fuel resources of the country. 

The investigations made so far show that there is a woeful lack of 
business methods in the purchase and use of coal on the part of both 
the Government and the people. The large manufacturers of the 
country to-day purchase their coal less intelligently than the farmers of 
the country purchase their fertilizers, because no farmer to-day buys 
fertilizer without first having a reliable chemical analysis made of it. 

The great waste of the fuel of this country, if not stopped, and 
stopped soon, may lead to serious want in the future. 

Two experts of the United States Geological Survey recently made 
a study of the amount of coal used every year in the United States and 
of the probable supply of minable fuel in the entire country. They 
found that the increase in the rate of consumption is enormous, and if 
maintained would result in the rapid exhaustion of the country's 
available fuel. 

President Roosevelt, in commenting recently upon this condition, 
said: 

The conversion of our natural resources to their proper uses constitutes the funda- 
mental problem which underlies almost every other problem of our national life. 
Unless we maintain an adequate material basis for our civilization we can not maintain 
the institutions in which we take so great and so just a pride; and to waste and destroy 
our natural resources means to undermine this material basis. 

As a result of the tests already made at the fuel-testing plant satis- 
factory specifications for the purchase of Government coals according 



to their heating value have been put into practical use. This work 
has proved so encouraging to those engaged in the investigation that 
within a year or two more it is safe to estimate that the saving to the 
Government in the purchase of its coal will be several times the total 
amount of the appropriation for this division of the Survey up to date, 

BRIQUETTING TESTS. 

During the present year a considerable portion of the fuel-testing 
plant will be devoted to tests of fuel for the Navy. 

''Briquette" is the name given to a form of fuel prepared chiefly 
from slack or waste bituminous coal or anthracite culm (waste), the 
mixture being compressed into compact masses or blocks of size and 
shape suitable for use as fuel. 

Three briquetting machines are now at work at the plant. One, 
received recently from Germany, is used for briquetting lignites of 
Texas and the Northwest. A second machine, of English make, was 
used for some time at the St. Louis plant. The third is a machine of 
American make, of which much is expected. 

The results of the briquette investigations have shown that for use 
under boilers requiring forced draft — such as locomotive boilers — the 
briquetting of fuel so increases its efficiency as to more than offset the 
cost of making the briquettes. The present tests of briquettes on 
naval vessels may demonstrate that, when used with the modern 
boilers of warships, they will afford a uniform and high temperature, a 
more uniform and constant draft, and an increased efficiency. 

GAS-PRODUCER TESTS. 

The tests at St. Louis have demonstrated the great possibilities of 
the gas engine. It has been already shown that the gas producer is 
capable of generating between two and one-half and three times as 
much power from a given weight of coal as can be obtained imder an 
ordinary steam boiler. A still further development of intense interest 
along this line is found in the use in the gas producer of coals of low 
grade. Many low-grade fuels that can not be burned satisfactorily 
imder a steam boiler have been used with the greatest ease in the gas 
producer. Several bituminous coals of the poorest grade — coals that 
heretofore have been regarded as of practically no value — have shown 
remarkable efficiency in the gas producer, and lignites and peat have 
also responded with great readiness to its demands, thus opening the 
way to the introduction of cheap power into large districts that have 
thus far been industrially and commercially unimportant owing to 
lack of satisfactory fuel. 

The significance of these €ests is seen when one realizes that there 
are vast areas of lignite in the far west that have so far been practi- 
cally useless, the people being compelled to pay big freight charges 
on the coal they did use. These investigations are being continued 



at the Norfolk plant on a large 235-horsepower gas engine, which is 
supplied with gas made in two large producers. 

CHEMICAL WORK. 

Chemistry is assisting the fuel experts to determine the character- 
istics and the comparative value of coals throughout the country. 
The primary purpose of the chemical analyses made is to give the 
Government, and the Navy in particular, exact information regard- 
ing the various coals purchased, no matter from what field in the 
United States. If a naval vessel coals at Boston, these tests will 
enab e its engineer to select his fuel intelligently and to know thor- 
oughly what it IS capable of doing. This information, it is conceded 
would be of extreme value in time of war. 

The analyses made are of great service not only to the men who do 
the Government's work, but to engineers throughout the country 
and under the stimulus of work of this kind the question of fuel effi- 
ciency is receiving attention in many parts of the country. Many 
power plants in the United States are now buying fuel on definite 
specifications and have obtained increased efficiency as a result of 
the Government's investigations. These chemical analyses of sam- 
ples of coal from all the coal fields of the United States will aid man- 
ufacturers, wherever situated, to save money in the purchase of fuel, 
for they will enable them to learn where they can buy the coal that 
is best suited to their purposes. 

The chemical tests are being made in Pittsburg, where the Govern- 
ment has a completely equipped laboratory. 

BOILER TESTS. 

A series of important tests of fuel under boilers at the Government 
p ant at St. Louis, Mo., has given remarkable results. These tests 
although made primarily to determine the amount of waste of fuel ii^ 
the hrmg of boiler fximaces and to prevent such waste in the future 
by the adoption of proper methods, indicate that boilers can perform 
much more work than they do now. They indicate that stationary 
boilers ought to do ten to twenty times as much work per unit of 
heating surface as they do now. The tests are not yet completed 
and arc being continued at the Norfolk plant on three moderboilers 

tube type, of 210 horsepower each, and the tlurd is of the marine type, 

those boileis. I ho furnaces are of three distinct types-one hand-fired 
w, h spocal fire-brick combustion chamber and'Tutomat c a r-cht ' 
bor a, n ission, the second a mechanical stoker of the underfeedT^e 
an, the third a mcnianioal stoker of the overfeed type-so that eTch 



COKE INVESTIGATIONS. 

Experiments to improve the coking qualities of coal have been car- 
ried on for some time at the St. Louis plant and are to be continued 
at Denver, Colo., where coke ovens and a washery plant are now being 
erected by the Survey. 

In recent experiments the experts -have succeeded in making coke 
out of several coals that have been regarded as non coking. 

Coal is generally spoken of as if it were a unit, just as steel has been, 
but as it is being discovered that steel is in fact a number of different 
substances, so coal may be considered a number of substances, 
although the chemists can not tell to-day from the analysis why one 
coal will coke and another will not. This problem is being attacked 
systematically by making tests with varying percentages of different 
coals. Meanwhile the chemists are trying to find out what coal is, 
and, if possible, why one coal will coke and another will not, so they 
can decide intelligently in advance about these mixtures. It is of 
extreme importance to the manufacturers of this country to know 
what coals in the Mississippi Valley and the far west can be used in 
making good coke for metallurgical purposes. 

SMOKE ABATEMENT TESTS. 

Different cities throughout the coimtry have repeatedly asked 
for suggestions as to the means of abating the smoke nuisance, and 
the investigation of this subject has been taken up by the Survey's 
plant at Norfolk. Although the loss in efficiency of fuel by smoke is 
not proportional to the amount of smoke made, yet smoke does indi- 
cate incomplete combustion and loss in efficiency. 

It is becoming more and more difficult to procure anthracite coal 
at prices that compare favorably with the prices of bituminous coal. 
Yet very little bituminous coal is now burned in the Government 
builduigs at Washington on account of the difficulty of preventing 
smoke with the present equipment, much of which is old and iaeffi- 
cient, i 

A part of the work of the Norfolk ])lant consists of a series of experi- 
ments on boiler furnaces with bitumuious coals to determine a num- 
ber of important factors, among them the possibility of burning such 
coal without smoke. These experiments are made with furnaces of 
three types. All of these furnaces are so set in relation to the boilers 
as to insure complete combustion. The results of these experiments 
will be of importance not only to the Government, but to the entire 
commercial interests of the country. 

In cooperation with a number of railroads the Government is 
now experimenting with briquettes as a means of lessening the 
amount of smoke from locomotives. The results attained thus far 
are encouraging. 



IlS^VnESTIGATION OF STRUCTURAL MATERIAI^S. 

Tests of structural materials form an important part of the work 
of the technologic branch of the United States Geological Survey on 
account of the vast sums that are spent by the Government each 
year for structural materials and the great engineering problems that 
are continually being worked out, such as those involved in the 
construction of the Isthmian Canal and the various projects of the 
"United States Reclamation Service. Some time ago representatives 
of the Isthmian Canal Commission, the Reclamation Service, the 
Bureau of Yards and Docks of the Navy, the Corps of Engineers of 
the Army, and of the office of the Supervising Architect of the 
Treasury declared that the chief objects to be kept in view in these 
tests should be the investigation of concrete, of the materials that 
are used in the manufacture of cement, of the character of the 
cements themselves, and of the character of the other materials 
that are used in making concrete. In connection with the Isth- 
mian Canal work and the Reclamation Service projects local sup- 
plies of finely crushed stone were tested as a substitute for sand 
in concrete for large engineering works at points where suitable 
supplies of sand could not be found and where it would be impracti- 
cable to bring supplies of suitable sand on account of the great cost. 

The results already obtained are immediately available for the use 
of Government engineers and builders and m,ay be used year after 
year as additional construction work is planned by the Government. 
These results are equally valuable to outside engineers and builders, 
because the kind of information needed by the Government is also 
required in construction work which is being performed for States, 
municipalities, or private interests. 

The Government engineers also required information concerning 
the fireproof qualities of materials. To meet this demand two Gov- 
ernment experts were sent to San Francisco immediately after the 
earthquake and fire, to make a careful examination of the damage 
donb to the buildings, and a report of the results of this work has 
been published. 

The present investigations include (1) an examination of cements, 
cement m.aterials, sand, gravels, stone, clay products, and other 
materials available for use in Government buildings and in construc- 
tion work in difi'erent parts of the country; (2) examination and 
tests of concrete and reenforced concrete in beams and other forms 
made by using, in different proportions, the several constituent mate- 
rials — steel bars, sand, gravel, crushed stone, etc. — available for 
Government work; (3) tests of cement blocks of different sizes and 
typ(\s used in Government construction work; (4) tests of fireproof 
qu ah ties of materials and fireproofing of materials needed and used 



in Government building in construction in different parts of the 
country. 

The importance of these tests will be more fully appreciated when 
it is remembered that the Government is now spending more than 
$1,000,000,000 every year in construction work, and that the losses 
from fires in the United States during the last ten years — losses 
largely preventable by proper systems of fireproofing — have aggre- 
gated more than $9,000,000,000. 

For a number of years investigations of structural materials have 
been carried on throughout the country, but without attempt at coor- 
dination until a small appropriation was made to enable the United 
States Geological Survey to perform work of this kind. The Survey, 
recognizing the value of cooperation, at once invited technical socie- 
ties to take part in the work; consequently, a joint committee on 
concrete and reenforced concrete, composed of leading engineers and 
professors of engineering from the American Society of Civil Engi- 
neers, the American Society for Testing Materials, the American 
Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way Association, and the 
Association of American Portland CemxCnt Manufacturers, was 
invited to assist in planning the work to be done by means of the 
appropriation. An advisory board composed of leading engineers 
throughout the country was created by President Roosevelt, and 
this board has had general supervision of the work. 

These investigations are being conducted principally at St. Louis, 
although supplemental work is being done at Norfolk, Chicago, New 
York, Lafayette (Ind.) , Urbana (111.) , and Madison (Wis.) . The equip- 
ment of the laboratories at St. Louis is very complete, comprising 
four 200,000-pound testing machines, one 100,000-pound testing 
machine, one 600,000-pound testing machine (about to be installed), 
three concrete mixers, five block machines, and a great deal of 
smaller apparatus necessary for carrying on the work. 

The materials tested are shipped to the laboratories from all parts 
of the country. Tests are made on cement mortars and on con- 
crete, plain and reenforced. In the reenforced concrete beams tested 
varying percentages of steel are used. 

During the coming year it is proposed to make a series of tests on 
large columns, beams, and floor slabs. The 600,000-pound machine 
referred to above is equipped to test columns and beams up to 30 
feet in length. 

At Norfolk advantage has been taken of the proximity to salt 
water to outline a series of tests on the effect of sea water on cement 
mortars and concretes. The branch laboratory is located in the 
Fuel and Alcohol Building near the main entrance of the James- 
town Exposition. 

A number of different cements will be used and chemical analyses 
of these will be made and recorded in order to determiiie the effect 



s 

of variations in chemical constitution on the r „, «^« ^^« ^,„ ^ 

.0 019 410 170 3 
Crete. In addition, tests of concrete made witu sea water are cum- 

templated. A study will also be made of the effect of electrolysis 
to find what thickness of concrete is necessary to protect the reen- 
forcing steel from the effects of electrical currents and to determine 
the extent to which steel is affected by these currents. 

Up to the present time all the tests on beams that have been made 
at the laboratories have been conducted under a static load uni- 
formly applied — that is, the load in the testing machine was increased 
very slowly up to the point of failure. At Norfolk it is proposed to 
study the effect of a retained load and also of repetitive loading. 
To study the effect of retained load it is proposed to support beams 
near the ends and to allow them to remain in that position for differ- 
ent lengths of time, the weight of the beam being considered suffi- 
cient load. In the study of repetitive loading it is proposed to apply 
to reenforced concrete beams successive loads of equal amount, the 
load on each beam being less than that which would cause failure; 
that is, a certain load will be put on a beam and taken off a large num- 
ber of times, and then the beam will be tested and its strength com- 
pared with the strength of similar beams that were not subjected to 

the repetitive load. 

PUBLICATIONS. 

The results of the various tests and analyses made are published 
from time to time in pamphlet form for free distribution to Govern- 
ment engineers and others who may be able to profit by them. 
Several reports are now ready for distribution, others are in press, 
and still others are in preparation. Application for these should be 
made to The Director, U. S. Geological Survey, Washington, 
D. C. 

REPORTS PUBLISHED AND IN PRESS. 

Bulletin No. 261. Preliminary report on the operations of the coal-testing plant of 
the United States Geological Survey at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, 
Mo., 1904. E. W. Parker, J. A. Holmes, M. R. Campbell, committee in charge, 1905, 
172 pages. Out of stock. Can be obtained by sending 10 cents in cash to the Super- 
intendent of Documents, Washington, D. C. 

Professional Paper No. 48. Report on the operations of the coal-testing plant of the 
United States Geological Survey at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, 
Mo., 1904. E, W. Parker, J. A. Holmes, M. R. Campbell, committee in charge, 1906. 
In three parts, 1492 pages, 13 plates. 

Bulletin No. 290. Preliminary report on the operations of the fuel-testing plant of 
the United States Geological Survey at St. Louis, Mo., 1905, by J. A. Holmes. 1906. 
240 pages. 

Bulletin No. 323. Experimental work conducted in the chemical laboratory of the 
fuel-testing plant, St. Louis, January 1, 1905, to July 31, 1906, by N. W. Lord. 

Bulletin No. 324. The San Francisco earthquake and fire of April 18, 1906, and 
their effects on structures and structural materials: Reports by G. K.'Gilbert, R. L. 
Humphrey, J. S. Scwell, and Frank Soul6. 

Bulletin No. 325. A study of four hundred steaming tests, made at the fuel-testing 
plant, St. Louis, Mo., 1904, 1905, and 1906, by L. P. Breckenridge. In press. 

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